Walt Whitman is one of Americas greatest poets. He had a way of connecting to people as he traveled America. Just as he connected to his peers as he moved from area to area and from experience to experience, he connects us to him and to all he met and wrote about. His poems have a strength of love and a commitment to seeing the goodness in people. This is a gift and one we don’t always see in this twenty-first century.

Dragonfly

To a Stranger

Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly

I look upon you,

You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, ( it comes to me as of a dream,)

I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,

All is recall’d as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste,

matured.

You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,

I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours only nor

left my body mine only,

You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flash, as we pass, you take of my beard, breast

hands, in return,

I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone,

I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,

I am to see to it that I do not lose you.” —-Walt Whitman, Laws for Creation

I think Whitman was an original man. There has never been another like him. There have been American poets who loved nature and who dedicated poems to the joy of nature, but Walt Whitman had a way of seeing nature that was unique. He also had a way of describing war when he was a volunteer nurse in the Civil War. His ability to look into people’s souls and to access their souls was extraordinary. Poetry was his medium and he has left us a treasure trove of his rhythm and his way of looking at life. He was a man who often traveled alone; he was outside of his society in many ways, separate from us, but he has never left us. His words will keep him alive for many centuries to come.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — A Rikers Island jail guard who investigators say left her post without permission as a mentally ill inmate lay dying in his 101-degree cell in February had been disciplined four years earlier for a similar infraction, The Associated Press has learned.

Carol Lackner was accused in 2010 of leaving her post and leaving Rikers Island entirely without permission while working in a women’s section of the jail, according to the documents obtained through a public records request.

That administrative charge was settled, her attorney says, when Lackner agreed to give up five vacation days. He said she was on a break when she left, which is nevertheless a policy violation.

More recently, Lackner was suspended for 30 days following the Feb. 15 death of 56-year-old Jerome Murdough. A city corrections investigation found she abandoned her post in a mental health observation unit 20 minutes before he…

A White House official tells CNN that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki is “on thin ice” with President Obama. The number of lawmakers from both parties calling for Shinseki’s resignation is growing. Lawmakers vented their frustration after senior VA officials testified at a House hearing yesterday evening. Drew Griffin’s reporting on the VA scandal has been Keeping Them Honest for months.

Anderson looked at the enormity of this crisis for the White House with political analyst David Gergen and Congressman Jeff Miller, who is the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

It has become the first thing people associate with my nation when I’m overseas, and has become a source of shame for those once proud of being Australian: the shark cull.

The first question I usually hear is “how can people let this happen?” Or, “what is wrong with the Australian government?” It must seem crazy from the outside, watching a country defined by its wilderness going to great lengths to the kill off a vital part that wilderness. It’s not the general population pushing for a shark cull; only a small group actually supports the program. It is the government that sets the foundation for the disgusting environmental devastation in our waters. Even then, our government at large did not enact the policy that allowed the shark cull to take place; a few members snuck it past the usual policy approval routine. One man’s signature condemned…

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — A Brooklyn man is facing fines and possible jail time for keeping a 3-foot-long alligator as a pet inside his home.

As 1010 WINS’ Carol D’Auria reported, Victor Alexandria said his alligator is more than a pet.

“Well his name is Dino, he’s 3 years old. You know, he’s been my friend ’cause I think all animals are my friend. I got him since he fit in the palm of my hand. (Does he bite?) No, I have kids hold him all the time on the boardwalk,” he said.

Help Save a Child

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HANDS UP 4 JUSTICE APP

The Hands Up 4 Justice audio and video APP records encounters with law enforcement. This APP was created to video and audio record encounters with law enforcement for your safety. The best use of the APP once pulled over by the police, turn on the front facing camera and start recording..

Protests – Black Lives Matter

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KEEP EYES ON THE POLICE. NATIONAL POLICE VIOLENCE MAPPING TOOL.

Tool designed to help you hold Elected Officials accountable for police violence.

Hank Johnson Justice Fund

NO JUSTICE, NO MONEY
In the wake of the killings of unarmed black men and boys and the outrageous failure to prosecute their killers, Hank Johnson is introducing the Grand Jury Reform Act. This bill will prohibit the use of a grand jury when determining whether to prosecute a police officer in the event of a death. The status quo isn’t working. The evidence is clear. The people are demanding a real response from their elected leaders.

I am a retired widow with 4 kids and 9 grands. I worked as a nurse, and in Domestic Violence, and many non-profits, I was a donor health counselor for the American Red Cross and am a certified HIV counselor. I worked as a counselor and I have been a make-up artist and selling specialists for several American designers. I love life. I am very spiritual. I grew up in 50's and 60's and truly am the idealistic rebel which is the name of my blog. I love music, books, reading, Kindle, beauty. I am a photographer and an artist. I believe in making the world better one day at a time. I am now living in Asheville, NC.